Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Wednesday 22 December 1999

Scottish Executive

Careers Service

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the work of careers services by encouraging more links between higher education and secondary school pupils in order to give a more informed choice about subjects and future jobs, as well as increasing pupil aspirations.

Henry McLeish: Currently, Career Service Companies already carry out work of this type by offering advice and guidance on higher education during individual interviews with pupils, and group interviews.

  Links are encouraged by the organisation of special events such as Higher Education Fairs and visits to higher education institutions.

  I have recently announced a review of the Careers Service. The terms of reference for the review are "To examine the role of the careers service in Scotland and the scope for change and development of that role in the light of trends and initiatives in education, lifelong learning, and the labour market." Evidence is currently being collected from a wide range of organisations, including higher education institutions, for consideration by the review committee. The committee is due to report in mid-2000.

Children

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue guidance asserting that young people aged 16 to 18 years be referred routinely to Children’s Panel Hearings when their actions meet the criteria for such referrals.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Existing legislation and guidance keeps many children aged between 16 and 18 years within the Children’s Hearings system. How best we deal with this age group will form part of our Review of Youth Crime.

Communities

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many travellers there are in Scotland currently and what the source of any available statistics is.

Ms Wendy Alexander: A count of travellers, undertaken by the Scottish Executive, estimated there were around 460 traveller families in Scotland in January 1999. Further information may be found in Travelling People in Scotland: Report on Seasonal Count , a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Communities

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many official sites there are for travellers in Scotland and what the total number of pitches within these sites is.

Ms Wendy Alexander: There are 34 local authority sites for travellers in Scotland with over 520 pitches.

Community Care

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue new guidance to local authorities on the interpretation of the Carers Act 1995 and Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 when applied to young carers to ensure that they can ask for an assessment of their needs.

Iain Gray: To give young carers a statutory entitlement to a direct assessment of their care needs requires primary legislation. Under the Scottish Executive’s Strategy for Carers in Scotland, approved by Parliament on 24 November 1999, a Carers’ Legislation Working Group will be set up by the end of this year and will consider and report on what legislative changes may be desirable. We plan to consult on legislative proposals later next year. In the interim, we have asked local authorities to respond sympathetically to requests for help from young carers and to assess their needs, not just in relation to the care they provide, but also their need for a healthy, carefree childhood, with proper access to education, leisure and social activities.

Domestic Abuse

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2648 by Jackie Baillie on 2 December 1999, what allowance was allocated to each authority during the determination of Revenue Support Grant levels for the next three financial years to provide match funding for bids under the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund.

Jackie Baillie: The vast majority of Scottish Executive grant support to local authorities, as with their income from local taxation, is not hypothecated for specific purposes. As I indicated in my statement to Parliament on 27 October, we will expect authorities to demonstrate their commitment to tackling domestic abuse by providing matching funding from these unhypothecated resources to the £3 million we are allocating towards the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund.

Employment

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will have into the meeting organised by the Department of Trade and Industry for 20 December 1999 to discuss the loss of jobs at the BARMAC fabrication yards.

Henry McLeish: The Oil and Gas Industry Task Force, of which I am vice-chair, has agreed to establish an Oil and Gas Fabrication Support Group to address the difficulties faced by all  the fabrication yards in the UK. The Group had a preliminary meeting on 20 December to discuss how to manage the changes that face the industry. The Scottish Executive will play its full part in this Group, which will also involve the Department of Trade and Industry, local enterprise agencies and training and export agencies.

Employment

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements have been made to reconvene the Highlands and Islands Convention to discuss the loss of jobs at BARMAC.

Henry McLeish: Ministers are actively considering the future of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands. An announcement will be made in the near future. Ministers remain willing to discuss any matters relating to the Highlands and Islands in the meantime.

  I met Highlands and Islands MSPs on 1 December to update them on the action being taken to address the difficulties facing BARMAC, and I intend to have a further meeting with the Members concerned shortly.

Energy

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding the upgrading of the electrical grid in Scotland in order to allow Scotland’s potential to generate electricity from renewable energy sources to be developed.

Sarah Boyack: Any decision to upgrade the electrical grid in Scotland is a commercial matter for its owners, Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy, and the Office of Gas and Electricity Regulation, which regulates the prices charged for use of the grid. Powers to grant consent for the construction or refurbishment of overhead power lines are executively devolved, and applications for consent for such work are made to Scottish Ministers.

Europe

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will report on progress in relation to the UK proposals for Objective 2 European Structural Funds coverage in Scotland from 2000-06.

Mr Jack McConnell: I am pleased that the Commission gave its approval on 22 December to the UK proposals for Objective 2 coverage from 2000-06. We now estimate that the Scottish Objective 2 programmes will be worth some €710 million (currently £452 million) over the next seven years – some €430 million (currently £270 million) in the West, some €215 million (currently £135 million) in the East and about €70 million (currently £44 million) in the South. I look forward to discussing the Plans for each area in the New Year to ensure that these funds are targeted on areas of need, whether they be in full or transition areas, so that they leave a lasting legacy.

Finance

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many non-departmental public bodies there are in Scotland and what is the total sum of money available to them.

Mr Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive currently has responsibility for a total of 137 Public Bodies (excluding the 51 NHS Bodies), of which 38 are Executive NDPBs. In 1997-98, the Scottish Executive contributed £1,700 million of the Scottish budget to Executive NDPBs in Scotland.

Finance

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what capital allocation has been made, on the basis of need, to Argyll and Bute Council as the education element of the capital distribution formula in each of the past four years and for the next financial year.

Mr Jack McConnell: The total formula allocation, introduced with effect from 1997-98, is issued as an unhypothecated single figure in respect of all local authority non-housing capital programmes.

  From 1999-2000 the total is adjusted to take into account receipts raised by every council in the country and allocations are issued on a gross basis. It is, therefore, not possible to identify separately an amount attributable to any element of the formula. The new approach means that I was able to announce on 19 November a 7.5% increase in Argyll and Bute’s gross formula allocation for 2000-01. The Council will decide on its priorities for spending its allocation.

Fisheries

Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider widening the testing procedures for scallops to allow queen scallops to be tested separately.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive’s marine biotoxin monitoring and surveillance programme routinely undertakes tests for amnesic shellfish poisoning in all species of commercially exploited bivalve molluscs, including scallops and queen scallops.

Fisheries

Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs of testing the gonads of shellfish are, as opposed to the cost of testing the whole fish and what is the estimated number of tests that can be done in one day using each testing procedure.

Susan Deacon: There is no difference in the procedures for testing for ASP in the whole body of a scallop as opposed to the gonad. Therefore, there is no difference in either the cost of testing or the time taken.

  On average, the Fisheries Research Services Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen undertake 40 separate tests for ASP during each 24 hour period.

Fisheries

Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, under section 7a of EU Council Directive 97/61, scallop white meat could be sold separately provided that it was tested for amnesic shellfish poisoning and passed for human consumption.

Susan Deacon: Scallop white meat may be sold separately provided that it meets all the requirements of the Shellfish Hygiene Regulations which include the upper limit for amnesic shellfish poisoning defined by Council Directive 97/61.

  However no flesh from scallops may be sold from an area which has been closed to scallop fishing by a Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (FEPA) Order due to the detection of algal toxin levels above the statutory limit as no part of a scallop can be harvested from such an area.

Fisheries

Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the total number of people in Scotland employed in scallop farming.

Mr John Home Robertson: A table is provided with the most up-to-date figures available.

  Scallop and Queen Scallop Farming in Scotland - Employment

  


Region 

  

Full-Time 

  

Part-Time 

  

Total 

  



Highland 

  

22 

  

35 

  

57 

  



Strathclyde 

  

25 

  

8 

  

33 

  



Orkney 

  

0 

  

4 

  

4 

  



Total 

  
 
 

94 

  



  Source: Annual Return, Scottish Shellfish Farms Annual Production Survey 1998

Fisheries

Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the predicted number of business failures in the scallop industry as a result of the amnesic shellfish poisoning ban.

Mr John Home Robertson: The Scottish Executive has made no prediction of business failures in the scallop industry as a result of the ASP ban. We have received information from individual businesses on levels of loss and we have been in contact with Highlands and Islands Enterprise for information from their two investigations into the impact of the closures. However, without the ability to forecast the likely duration of closures through differing levels of toxin by area and the re-opening of areas on an individual basis, and without detailed knowledge of the finances of individual businesses, it is impossible to predict with any authority, the effect of the ban on them.

Fisheries

Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the predicted job losses are in scallop (a) fishing (b) farming (c) processing and (d) marketing as a result of the amnesic shellfish poisoning ban.

Mr John Home Robertson: I refer Mr Munro to my reply to question number S1W-3117. The Scottish Executive has made no prediction of job losses in the scallop sector as a result of the ASP ban.

Fuel Duty

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the method of administration that will be used for the fuel duty rebate and whether it will detail the powers, if any, that it has to alter the rate set.

Sarah Boyack: Payment of Bus Fuel Duty Rebate is made for eligible local registered bus services based on total mileage and fuel consumption. The Scottish Parliament has the power to alter the rate used in the calculation of the rebate.

Health

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the funding provided to each health board in Scotland for 1999-2000 to cover winter pressure.

Susan Deacon: No specific funding has been provided to health boards in 1999-2000 to cover winter pressures. For 1999-2000 health boards received a general allocation to meet the health care needs of their resident population including any pressure for services arising from seasonal peaks in demand, especially during the winter.

Health

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that no one dies of cold-related deaths in Scotland this winter.

Susan Deacon: I refer Mr Gibson to the answer to his question numbered S1W-3003.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its strategy is for treating people with alcohol and drug dependency.

Susan Deacon: Treatment and rehabilitation needs vary greatly and our strategy is to ensure that a range of services is provided. The planning and provision of these services are the responsibility of local statutory and non-statutory agencies. Local Alcohol Misuse Co-ordinating Committees (AMCCs) and Drug Action Teams (DATs), who are best placed to assess local needs have a key role to play in ensuring a strategic and co-ordinated approach for their areas.

  The drugs strategy Tackling Drugs in Scotland: Action in Partnership sets out a comprehensive programme of action in the form of objectives and action priorities. Treatment is one of the four strategic aims of the strategy. Specific action priorities include the provision of shared care arrangements and integrated drug misuse services; improvements in service provision for young people, particularly the under-16s; and the provision of measures to prevent the spread of blood borne viruses.

  The Scottish Advisory Committee on Alcohol Misuse established in April 1999 to develop a national strategy for tackling alcohol misuse in Scotland will be advising on the development of further guidance on effective local strategies within the context of national strategic objectives and priorities.

Health

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what constraints, if any, are placed on health boards and NHS Trusts that prevent them establishing and running patient transport services.

Susan Deacon: NHS Trusts are free to provide non-emergency patient transport services subject to upholding a common set of quality standards designed to safeguard the patient and general public, and giving the Scottish Ambulance Service the agreed period of notice for change.

Health

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether blood products exported to other European countries in the mid 1980’s were tested for raised alanine aminotranferase (ALT) levels as an indicator of the presence of hepatitis and whether such a test was conducted on blood products given to patients.

Susan Deacon: No Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service blood products were exported to Europe in the mid-1980s.

  There has never been any requirement for blood products to be ALT tested for NHS patients.

Health

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Report on the Review of the Public Health Function in Scotland will be published.

Susan Deacon: I am pleased to announce that I launched the Report on 21 December. The Review reassessed the role, relationships and locus of public health medicine, to ensure the optimal use of all available resources in the drive to safeguard and improve Scotland’s health. Following wide-ranging consultations, the Review makes a number of recommendations intended to result in a robust, well-supported public health function, able to secure and sustain health improvement and lead a co-ordinated effort to tackle the underlying cause of poor health and disease. A copy of the Report is available through the Scottish Executive website – www.scotland.gov.uk/library2/doc09/rphf-00.asp and hard copies are available for reference from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Homelessness

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the individual projects funded under the Rough Sleepers Initiative in each local authority area in each year from 1997-98 to 1999-2000, including an indication of the partner organisations involved in each project.

Jackie Baillie: I refer Bill Aitken to the Annexes of the reports of the Rough Sleepers Advisory Group produced in October 1997 and July and November 1998 which set out the conclusions of the Advisory Group’s consideration of bids. Copies are in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Partner organisations involved with projects include housing associations, voluntary organisations, Scottish Homes, other local authority services and Health Boards.

Homelessness

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of its allocation for spending on both homelessness and rough sleeping for the years 1997-98 to 2001-02, what the priorities for the use of this spending were or are for each of these years and what targets were or will be used to assess the value of the spending.

Jackie Baillie: Our priorities are to prevent and tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. In Social Justice – a Scotland where everyone matters we have re-iterated the target that no-one should have to sleep rough by 2003 and we have set as a milestone the objective of reducing the number of households, and particularly families with children, living in temporary accommodation.

Homelessness

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of all funds allocated to local authorities or other agencies specifically to resolve homelessness (excluding the Rough Sleeper Initiative) for each year from 1997-98 to 2001-02, broken down by local authority or agency, how many additional homes for social rent it expects to be provided through these funds and what impact it expects this expenditure to have on the number of households that are registered homeless in Scotland.

Jackie Baillie: Information about local authority spending on homelessness is not collected centrally. Following are the number of homes for social rent built with funding support from Scottish Homes:-

  


1997-98 

  

2,500 

  



1998-99 

  

3,295 

  



1999-2000 

  

3,976 

  



  Scottish Homes programme for future years has not yet been decided.

  Homelessness is a complex problem, the solution to which lies in more than the provision of houses. The Executive recognises this and has established the Homelessness Task Force under my chairmanship to review the causes and nature of homelessness in Scotland; to examine current practice in dealing with cases of homelessness; and to make recommendations on how homelessness in Scotland can best be prevented and, where it does occur, tackled effectively.

Justice

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many victims of crime in Scotland have been waiting more than four years for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to settle their claim.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many victims of crime in Scotland have been waiting between three and four years for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to settle their claim.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many victims of crime in Scotland have been waiting between two and three years for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to settle their claim.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many victims of crime in Scotland have been waiting between one and two years for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to settle their claim.

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many victims of crime in Scotland have been waiting up to one year for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to settle their claim.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority advise that the number of cases awaiting a decision (either a first decision, a review decision, or following an appeal) in respect of Scottish incidents, as at 13 December 1999, was as follows:-

  


1990 Scheme (This scheme closed 

  to new applicants on 31 March 1996) 

  



(a) 

  

up to 1 year 

  

29 

  



(b) 

  

1-2 years 

  

12 

  



(c) 

  

2-3 years 

  

13 

  



(d) 

  

3-4 years 

  

308 

  



(e) 

  

over 4 years 

  

541 

  



  


1996 Scheme (Appeals under this 

  scheme are dealt with by the Criminal Injuries Compensation 

  Appeals Panel) 

  



(a) 

  

up to I year 

  

7,615 

  



(b) 

  

1-2 years 

  

2,137 

  



(c) 

  

2-3 years 

  

779 

  



(d) 

  

3 years+ 

  

196

Justice

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people been brought to court over false calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service in Scotland in the last year for which figures are available and whether it will consider increasing judicial punishment of such nuisance callers.

Angus MacKay: This information is not collected separately. Sentencing is a matter for the judiciary who take full account of the circumstances of particular cases which are brought before them.

Legal Aid

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to amend the legal aid restrictions so that the receipt of incapacity benefit and other benefits is not taken into account when calculating income in applications for legal aid funding.

Mr Jim Wallace: An applicant for advice and assistance who is in receipt of income support, income-based jobseekers allowance, Disabled Person's Tax Credit (previously Disability Working Allowance) and Working Families Tax Credit (previously Family Credit) and has disposable capital of less than £1,000 will receive advice and assistance with no contribution.

  An applicant for advice and assistance who is in receipt of a back to work bonus or payments made under the Earnings Top-up Scheme 1996, Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 or section 12B of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, will have these disregarded when calculating his or her disposable income and capital.

  An applicant for civil legal aid who is in receipt of income support; income-based jobseekers allowance; back to work bonus; payments made under the Earnings Top-up Scheme 1996, Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 or section 12B of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968; disability living allowance; constant attendance allowance; payment made out of the social fund, will have these disregarded when calculating his or her disposable income and capital.

  When calculating an applicant's disposable income and capital for advice and assistance and civil legal aid, allowances are also made for "dependent persons", the applicant's "tools and implements of trade" and such like.

  We have no plans for Incapacity Benefit to be disregarded from the calculation of an applicant's disposable income or disposable capital for advice and assistance or civil legal aid.

Parliamentary Questions

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why it has not provided a substantive answer to question S1W-1414 further to the holding answer on 21 September 1999 and when it expects to do so.

Donald Dewar: PQ S1W-1414 was answered on 10 December.

Prison Service

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2711 by Mr Jim Wallace on 1 December 1999, what level of detail is distinguished for projection numbers of prisoners in Scottish prisons.

Mr Jim Wallace: The methodology used to produce projections of the Scottish prison population is designed to provide projections of the total number of prisoners only.

Prison Service

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2711 by Mr Jim Wallace on 1 December 1999, on what basis estimates are made of the number of required places for (i) young offenders and (ii) women offenders in Scottish prisons.

Mr Jim Wallace: Estimates of the future prison population are based on historical data and recent sentencing trends.

Rural Affairs

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-779 by Henry McLeish on 13 August 1999, whether it has made specific representations to Her Majesty's Government opposing their plans to have benefit payments moved from rural post offices to automated credit transfer and what assessment has it made or plans to make of any impact upon rural post offices such a move might have.

Henry McLeish: The UK Government has indicated its commitment to maintaining a network of post offices throughout the country. The UK Government has also given an assurance that those benefit recipients who wish to collect their benefits in cash at post offices will continue to be able to do so.

Sport

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration has been given to establishing a supporters – shareholders trust in order to allow football supporters to buy shares in their respective clubs.

Rhona Brankin: As I said during the recent debate about football finances I am interested to hear more about new models of club ownership. I particularly want to explore what role, if any, the Scottish Parliament and Executive could play in encouraging increased supporter participation in the running of football clubs. I also want to hear the views of the SFA and the other football authorities. A meeting is being arranged to discuss this early next year.

Student Finance

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2302 by Henry McLeish on 16 November 1999, whether it will provide details of the numbers of continuing students over the age of 50 years who have retained their right to have their tuition fees paid in full in the academic year 1999-2000.

Henry McLeish: As at 9 December, the number of continuing students over the age of 50 years who have retained their right to have their tuition fees paid in full in the academic year 1999-2000 is 284.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Register of Interests

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Register of Members’ Interests on the Scottish Parliament website is updated contemporaneously with the register held in the chamber office.

Sir David Steel: Yes. As updates to the Register of Members’ Interests held in loose-leaf form in the Chamber Office are inserted in the Register, they are sent by e-mail to the staff of the Scottish Parliament website. The relevant pages of the Register on the website are edited and re-posted to the site within the hour.

Register of Interests

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Presiding Officer what is the legal status of the Register of Members’ Interests which appears on the Scottish Parliament website.

Sir David Steel: Article 3(6) of the Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Members’ Interests) Order 1999 provides that the Register is to be printed and published by the Clerk in such manner as the Parliament may determine. On 2 July 1999 the Parliament decided that the Register of Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament should be printed in a loose-leaf folder to be kept at the office of the Clerk of the Parliament and published on the Parliament’s website. In accordance with Article 3(6), therefore, the Register was published on the Parliament’s website under the authority of the Parliament’s resolution of 2 July 1999.